hackaday.com Archives - 12 February 2013, Tuesday

This television is perfect except for its low resolution and the fact that it can’t be seen by the naked eye. [Chris Shen's] art installation, Infra, uses 625 television remotes as pixels for a TV screen . There’s a little bit of insight to be gained from the details which [Chris] sha...

The hardware comes in two pieces. The first is a mini-PCIe card to USB interface. This is handy if you want to add a Bluetooth dongle permanently to your computer. But he’s got other things in mind for it. After hacking the BIOS (which for some reason limits what you can plug into thi...

I’ve always wanted to see this! My modem curiosity has peaked lately as I’ve been wanting/trying to set up a PPP or dialup connection across wireless via some GMRS walkie talkies my dad gave me. I was going to crack them open, look for the IC(s) responsible for the transceiver and dat...

[Reza's] methodical investigation of this remote controlled outlet let him patch in with an Arduino using a 433 MHz transmitter . This is a single-device unit, but the techniques used here should allow you to take control of wireless rigs that have multiple modules to control many dev...

“but of course there are a few security implications of having your electric kettle connected to the Internet.” Like what? I leave my kettle on at the wall all the time, I press the manual button on top when I want hot water, -the kettle turns itself off when it’s boiled. What implica...

If you value your time and want to be able to quickly & easily build prototypes or permanent projects then there is not a better choice. Maybe slightly more expensive than other options but most Gadgeteer mainboards typically have much more powerful than your typical mcu also. So, if ...

The cube is able to process 142 frames per second, that is, 1 frame every 7 milliseconds. Within this time period, it loops through a still frame 7 times (Each cycle of POV lasts 144 microseconds). This is able to compensate for flickering during video recording, allowing all camera’s...

What can you do with ten buttons and ten lights? A lot. [Andrew] and [Nathan] found a collection of Hale Research keypads being thrown out, and decided to host the Keypad Contest . The goal of the contest was to create something nifty using the ten buttons and ten lights on the keypad...

[Enrico] figured out a way to fully automate his pet food and water . The system is in two parts, the water trough as seen on the left, and the food dispenser whose control hardware is shown on the right. The system is even hooked up to the network so that he can make sure it didn’t b...

This hexapod was made almost entirely via 3d printing (translated ). The parts that you need to supply include a few fasteners to make connections, twelve servo motors, and a method of driving them. As you can see in the video after the break, all those parts come together into a litt...

This pass through audio modulator lets you playback stereo audio on two Tesla coils . But don’t fret, you can just use mono files if you only have one coil on hand. On one side there are inputs that connect to the audio source. The other side drives the Tesla coil, switching it on and...

I am not sure if the whole wedding party and family consists of electronics hackers, it would certainly result in promising offspring, but the likelihood of it is small in reality. Let’s assume most guests were surprised by the novelty-invitation and will not ask for the ATtiny’s sour...

We’ve seen computers built in Minecraft out of redstone, the game’s version of electricity, circuits, and digital logic. We’ve even seen a few redstone contraptions controlling real-world devices. [Angus]‘ build, though, takes things to a whole new level. He’s created a bridge between...

You heard us right, the stirrer is not combined with the plate, but resides on the underside of the same PSU enclosure. The plate itself is from a unit he bought at the store and cannibalized. The light switch dimmer lets him adjust the heat it puts out. When not hot, he can flip it o...

For a theatre production, [Jason] needed a way to automatically open and close doors as a special effect. His solution, hosted on Github , lets him remotely control the doors, and put them into a ‘freak out’ mode for one scene in the play. Two Victor 884 motor controllers are attached...

I wish seeed and itead etc would allow for less than 10 quantities on the bigger/4 layer boards. I want a few 10cm x 15cm 4 layer boards (I would like 6 layers really..). I want 3 or 4 not 10. If only I could pay slightly more per board and not have 6 expensive boards sitting around t...

What he wants to do is build an adjustable current source. To do that from an ATX supply, he needs to change the supply’s original feedback circuit so it regulates the output current rather than the voltage. If you look at the supply schematic, you will see a voltage divider connected...

When you’ve got a month worth of blog postings it’s pretty difficult to choose one photograph that sums it all up. This one shows the tour group from MIT Media Lab in ESD garb ready for their tour of Okano SMT and Speaker Factory. It was part of a tour of Shenzhen aimed at bringing gr...

MEGA is a new, encrypted cloud storage system founded by [Kim Dotcom] of MegaUpload fame. They’re selling privacy in that the company won’t have the means to decrypt the data stored by users of its service. As with any software project, their developers are rapidly making improvements...

The design is quite simple, there’s a large flap which is attached at the top of the bag and has a couple of clips at the bottom to keep ti closed. On the inside of the flap he sewed a snap system which holds one piece of material on which all of the electronics are attached. The Lily...

I have a friend who could use a specialized controller, he has one hand, if you are going that route Im sure any company that makes 3d printers would be more than happy to support you in this endeavor. just outline the plans that you have and I bet you would get one within a week. Als...

a lot of these dashboard tablet installs , [James] didn’t need any Bondo, sanding, or painting to get things to look right. Like we mentioned, the bezel is a perfect fit so his alterations are hidden behind the tablet itself. He removed the stock head unit and ordered a DIN adapter ki...

[Kory] has been experimenting with genetic algorithms. Normally we’d expect his experiments to deal with tuning the variables in a control system or something, but he’s doing something much cooler. [Kory] is using genetic algorithms to write computer programs , and in the process brin...

Cheap toy pianos don’t usually have MIDI, and getting a velocity-sensitive keyboard from something out of the toy aisle at Walmart is nearly out of the question. If you’re willing to tear one of these toy pianos apart and build your own control electronics, though, the sky is the limi...

I agree. This product has TON of potential and I am sort of surprised it isn’t out there yet. I think the on board storage is critical, and it should be hard soldered, non-volatile, and environmentally hardened, so even if the person manages to grab it and smash it, or throw it in the...

This guide will show you how to bind books by hand . The process from start to finish isn’t very difficult as long as you follow each step along the way. The final product looks great, and we can’t think of a better gift… as long as you have something meaningful on the pages. We never...

A while back we saw the MintEye CAPTCHA system - an ‘are you human’ test that asks you to move a slider until an image is de-swirled and de-blurred – cracked wide open by exploiting the accessibility option. Later, and in a clever bit of image processing, the MintEye CAPTCHA was broke...

Looking to build your own instrument out of plumbing and tape? [Scott] made his own set of Membrane Bagpipes out of PVC pipes, a plastic bag, and duct tape. Bagpipes are made out of a few parts. The drones are pipes that are tuned to play a single note. They are tuned by the fixed len...

The main PCB is larger than the 3.2″ LCD footprint, but [Samir] made sure to include a lot of peripherals to make up for it. The board sports a Parallax Propeller chip to run the games. It interfaces with the SSD1289 screen (this is a cheap and popular choice ) but that really eats up...

The real work is in the base of the robot, as the audio and video are handled by a tablet independently from the locomotion. The team spent about four hundred bucks to throw the thing together. It starts with a hunk of plywood. Two 3A motors were mated with lawnmower wheels for the fr...